I hope you all had a wonderful week full of spiritual experiences! 

This week was crazy and really fun! Sister Hardy (the STL) flew in from Bonaire for exchanges on Thursday and was supposed to leave on Friday morning, but then her flight got cancelled, so she spent Friday with us too! It was so fun to be back with her and to be in a trio with her and Sister Woodbury. We visited the Filiciana family (Sister Hardy and I were the ones to contact them and start teaching them) and they were so happy to see her! It was great for Sister Hardy to see them as a happy family who is strong in the Gospel. Having Sister Hardy there made me think back to what they were like when we first started teaching them, and wow, they have changed so much! I wrote President about it:
 We were able to see the Filiciana family that day, and they were so excited to see Sister Hardy again. Their whole family was together (David, Melissa, and their 3 kids), which Sister Hardy never saw when she was here. When we used to teach them, we were rarely able to teach David and Melissa together. With Sister Hardy there, I was able to remember and notice the difference they have made as a family and how the Gospel has truly changed their lives and their family for the better. They are together more now and they have more love in their home. We talked to them about their goal to go to the temple as a family this year, and they told us their "mini goals" that they have to reach the temple, such as reading the Book of Mormon and going to church every week.

The restored gospel of Jesus Christ truly does bless families, no matter what their circumstances are!

Another thing that happened when Sister Hardy was here: We had a lesson with an investigator at night in a neighborhood that isn't super safe and pretty sketchy. This neighborhood has lots of apartment building that are all 3 stories tall, and this investigator lives on the top floor. We normally lock our bikes to the staircase at the bottom, but there were some people playing dominoes right there, so we walked to the next apartment building to lock our bikes. Then we went up to our lesson, but he wasn't home. As we were walking down the staircase, we ran into him coming up the stairs! We were on the landing for the second floor (these staircases are outdoor) and we stopped to talk to him and reschedule with him. We decided to share a scripture with him, so Sister Woodbury pulled out her scriptures and started reading the scripture. I happened to be looking over at where our bikes were locked while she was doing this, and I saw someone trying to steal our bikes! I tried to point it out to Sister Hardy without making a big scene since Sister Woodbury was reading a scripture, but I wasn't very subtle and everyone looked when I pointed. Then our investigator said, "Someone's trying to take them, go, run!" So we started running down the stairs and over to the other apartment building and when we got there, he had run away and our bikes were still there. Mine was locked on the inside, so Sister Woodbury and Sister Hardy took theirs out first and then I went to get mine and saw that my lock had been cut! The only reason they couldn't steal is because it was on the inside and the other two bikes were locked to mine! That was such a tender mercy from the Lord. We were all so freaked out! Our investigator came over to make sure everything was good afterwards, so we were still able to share the scripture with him :) It was a crazy experience!

It has been really hot here recently and SUPER windy! There have been days where if we stop pedaling, our bikes almost immediately stop moving forward. It has been a really good workout! We also got a little bit of rain this morning, and I am hoping for more this week! The rain here is actually really cold, so it's so nice when it happens! 

A couple weeks ago I started studying Doctrine and Covenants and as I have been reading it, I have been thinking about how amazing it is that God still speaks with us today. We have ancient scripture, but as well we have modern scripture and revelation to help us in life! How cool is that! As I have read what the Lord said to Joseph Smith and others, it made me realize how loving our Father in Heaven is and how He wants us to have the truth in our lives. We are so blessed to have the scriptures and modern day prophets and apostles to lead and guide us, and we should never take that for granted! It is so easy to get caught up in life and everything we have going on, but I know that if we take time to study the words of the prophets, we will receive revelation and guidance for our lives and the Lord with bless us with the Spirit more abundantly.

I love you all so much and hope you have a great week! Les quiero! Mi ta stima boso!

Love,

Sister Davidson

Pictures:

​A cool and creepy graveyard that we saw as we were riding our bikes. We stopped and read a little sign that was there and the first governor of Aruba is buried here! These graves are super old, from the 1700 and 1800's!

​Me, Angelica, Sister Hardy, Rocky (their dog), Melissa, David, Naomi, Juandavid, and Junior (a neighbor friend). One happy family!

​One of our investigator's daughters has the tiniest, cutest pet bunny!